Rene Lorin's 1913 ramjet concept tests what it means for an invention to arrive too early. The aerodynamic idea preceded the metallurgy and aircraft materials needed to make it practical. A counterfactual about working ramjets in the First World War also separates the date of invention from the date of operational usefulness. The passage notes how badly early aviation engineers could fare when other people controlled the patents and rewards. Modern hypersonic weapons face the same basic constraint: a sound propulsion concept still depends on an industrial and materials base able to build it.
Chapter · 1:30-3:37
Ramjets before the materials could support them
The first case study uses Rene Lorin's 1913 ramjet idea to show how a promising invention can wait on metallurgy and materials science.